Chapter 1 Foundational concepts and theoretical guidelines

SoSci Survey is an online tool frequently used in academic research for creating surveys. It offers various features, including question branching, randomization, and multilingual support (SoSci Survey, n.d.). Beyond these functionalities, its capacity to integrate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript allows for the visualization of individual results for participants. This opens up the possibility of immediate feedback for participant which enhances their engagement, thereby improving data quality and validity.

However, the challenge often lies in reconciling the desire for immediate feedback with the need for participant anonymity and data protection, especially in the European context governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR imposes stringent requirements on data collection and processing, advocating for data minimization and privacy by design (SoSci Survey, n.d.). These principles recommend that data should be processed locally on the client-side whenever possible. In the context of online surveys, this translates to enabling participants to download their results directly without the need for collecting personal identifiers like email addresses, thus adhering to GDPR guidelines.

The choice of how to visually represent this immediate feedback is another critical consideration. While various chart types exist, this article focuses on bar plots and radar plots. Bar plots are particularly effective for straightforward comparisons of individual data points across categories, making them easily interpretable by participants. Radar plots, in contrast, are more suitable for representing multivariate data, allowing for the assessment of multiple variables at once. This makes them ideal for more complex data interpretations, such as presenting a participant’s personality profile in the context of the Big Five Inventory (BFI).

However, the principles and techniques discussed here can be adapted to numerous other types of charts. The r-graph Gallery provides numerous examples of how data can be plotted, offering a valuable resource for researchers looking to implement suiting graphical elements specific to their variables of interest. By combining the capabilities of SoSci Survey with GDPR-compliant methods and carefully selected chart types, researchers can offer participants immediate, meaningful, and secure feedback, thereby enriching the survey experience and potentially elevating the quality of the data collected.